The Benefits of Reviewing Even When the Pay Is Terrible, the Books Are Bad, and the Authors Are Only Going to Hate You, Anyway – Quote of the Day / Rebecca West

You could earn more per hour as a migrant grape-picker than you can by reviewing for many newspapers, and the odds are that an editor will ask you to write about a bad book and that the author will hate you afterward. So why volunteer for the work?

“Yes, I do. I do. I would feel awfully cut off if I didn’t review; I think it’s such a good discipline. It makes you really open your mind to a book. Probably you wouldn’t, if you just read it.”

Many critics like the serendipity or reviewing, or getting assigned books they wouldn’t otherwise have picked up, and I do, too. But I also like having to focus on books in a way that I don’t usually do when I’m reading for pleasure. You have to look harder at books when you’re reviewing them – you can never skim, ever — and when you do, you see more.

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An English professor of mine used to say that reading liberates thought, and criticism disciplines it. In that sense it can be a rewarding practice even if you’re not getting paid your pittance for it.

Very well said and I agree completely. I also find that criticism makes it a little easier to plod through a truly poor book by imagining what clever witticism can be used to convey the pain I had to endure with the hope that I can help some other poor reader avoid the same fate. By the way, I am really enjoying your blog.

What a lovely comment! I struggle at times to maintain this blog because I also freelance to support myself and am writing a third novel. So I really appreciate hearing that people enjoy it. Thank you so much …